Title: сокровище (treasure)

Author: me

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Russia/Finland, Poland mentioned

Rating: T

Warnings: errrr. Nothing. I used human names.

Summary: "I'll take very good care of you."

--

Every now and then Ivan would come to his room. He would sit down, take out a bottle of vodka, pour it into two glasses. And stare at him.

He would stare at him with curiosity and amazement. Like he was a caged wild animal.

After a while he, too, would sit down, facing Ivan, downing his first vodka shot of the night. And then he would stare back.

It was a drinking and staring contest of sorts. In many ways, Ivan was so much stronger, so much greater than he, but in this, they were equal.

They would not talk. At least, not often. And not him. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth and said something, he didn't know, stupid, maybe something would be broken, things would get much harder for him and his people.

Sometimes, Ivan would lean closer and caress his cheek.

"You're quite special, little Tino. So much different from that unwise Feliks…"

The whispered words would make him tense.

"You really belong to me, да? Not trying to escape… Ah, so much freedom I've given to you, мой ценный Tino… I'll take very good care of you."

Few more shots and sweet, empty promises later, Ivan would leave.

And by the time door closed, he would be trembling with tears, anger and tears he had been holding back.

"Minä en tule koskaan kuulumaan sinulle", he would breath out and clench his teeth. He would lock his door, finish the vodka and go to bed.

The same routine, with a set of variations, would be repeated over and over. Sometimes Ivan would suggest that he should study Russian. He would silently shake his head. Sometimes the other would come to him for closeness and comfort. At those times, he would play along; he would do what was needed.

He didn't mind his life. He knew that it could be so much worse, worse like Feliks' life was. What he did mind, though, was the name he had heard Ivan often use for him when he thought he wasn't listening.

Мой сокровище.

--

Random Russian:

да - yes

мой ценный – my dear/precious

Моё сокровище – my treasure

Random Finnish:

Minä en koskaan tule kuulumaan sinulle – I'll never belong to you

Hmm. This would be set in the time period when Finland and half of Poland was under Russian rule. 18xx, can't remember the exact years. But, yeah. Finland was pretty much the most free of all the countries in Russia, even if Poland was at first fairly free, the constant rebellion against Russia caused it to lose all kinds of freedoms. I don't really remember anymore.

This fic was actually inspired by the word 'independent'. See, how it's kind of negative form of 'dependent'? It's like that in many languages – независимый/зависимый in Russian, niezależny/zależny in Polish, but itsenäinen/riippuvainen in Finnish and well yeah. That's it. I don't know what it is in Swedish…

Well. I'm not surprised if there are some mistakes in my Russian. I've been studying it only for a year, so, yeah. And niezależny/zależny are the only words I know in Polish, I picked then up when I was reading the History of Poland. So. Yeah. And don't come complaining to me about my Finnish. It's my first language.

…I should know what's independent in Swedish, but… for some reason, I can't remember it.